Port concessionaires, government officials, shipping companies, members of the National Assembly (NASS)and freight forwarders will converged in Calabar next week to address the Calabar channel dredging.
Others expected at the forum are port administrators, marine engineers and maritime lawyers amongst several others.
The forum is being organised by the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria.
It is a two-day enlightenment forum on the dredging of Calabar Port from August 19-20, 2010 at the Diamond Hall, Metropolitan Hotel, Calabar, Cross River State.
The theme of the forum is ‘Economic Imperatives of Dredging of the Calabar Port’. It is expected to be chaired by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, President of African Roundtable.
The Executive Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, will declare the forum open as the Chief Host, while the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, is the Guest of Honour, he will also present a keynote address.
Calabar Port is one of the six major seaports in the country, which has unfortunately recorded the lowest patronage of deep ocean-going vessels owing to its shallow draft. The avoidable situation has thus adversely affected the growth of shipping activities in the port and by implication, the overall economy of the area.
It was learnt that investors in the port such as port concessionaires, shipping companies and even service providers as well as the management of world acclaimed Tinapa Project and the Calabar EPZ, to mention a few, are now struggling to keep their huge business investments afloat because of the situation.
The desire of MARAN to drum-up public support for the dredging of the port has attracted the attention of the Federal Ministry of Transport, which thus found it necessary to partner the Association in this patriotic venture.
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[mappress] Source: compassnewspaper , August 11, 2010;